Little by little, as the child grows in such an atmosphere, his spontaneous manifestations will become more _clear, with the clearness of truth_, revealing his nature. For all these reasons, the first form of educational intervention must tend to lead the child toward independence.
No one can be free unless he is independent: therefore, the first, active manifestations of the child's individual liberty must be so guided that through this activity he may arrive at independence. Little children, from the moment in which they are weaned, are making their way toward independence.
What is a weaned child? In reality it is a child that has become independent of the mother's breast. Instead of this one source of nourishment he will find various kinds of food; for him the means of existence are multiplied, and he can to some extent make a selection of his food, whereas he was at first limited absolutely to one form of nourishment.
Nevertheless, he is still dependent, since he is not yet able to walk, and cannot wash and dress himself, and since he is not yet able to _ask_ for things in a language which is clear and easily understood. He is still in this period to a great extent the _slave_ of everyone. By the age of three, however, the child should have been able to render himself to a great extent _independent_ and free.
That we have not yet thoroughly assimilated the highest concept of the term _independence_, is due to the fact that the social form in which we live is still _servile_. In an age of civilisation where servants exist, the concept of that _form of life_ which is _independence_ cannot take root or develop freely. Even so in the time of slavery, the concept of liberty was distorted and darkened.
Our servants are not our dependents, rather it is we who are dependent upon them.
It is not possible to accept universally as a part of our social structure such a deep human error without feeling the general effects of it in the form of moral inferiority. We often believe ourselves to be independent simply because no one commands us, and because we command others; but the nobleman who needs to call a servant to his aid is really a dependent through his own inferiority. The paralytic who cannot take off his boots because of a pathological fact, and the prince who dare not take them off because of a social fact, are in reality reduced to the same condition.